Innovative New Rapid Test Kit Launched for the Most Commonly Detected Pesticide in Drinking Water in the United States

Modern Water plc (UK) has recently launched the QuickChek Atrazine, a rapid enzyme immunoassay strip test. Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States and Australia. Since 2001 it is the most commonly detected pesticide in drinking water supplies in the United States.

Many research studies have associated long term exposure to atrazine with being toxic to wildlife, impairing the human immune system and causing birth defects. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acknowledged the harmful effects and has limited its use to only be applied by a pesticide professional, with the exception for lawn care, turf and conifer trees.

In 2013, 73.7 million pounds of the chemical compound was applied in the United States and was used on more than half of all corn crops and up to 90% of sugar cane. High levels of contamination in water have been found especially in the Midwest and Southern United States making the requirement for a quick test kit to measure the amount of atrazine in water essential.
Modern Water’s QuickChek Atrazine strip test produces results in just 10 minutes and is ideal for detecting atrazine in both drinking water and environmental water samples. It has excellent analytical precision with a detection range from just 0.75 ppb to 10 ppb.

This innovative technology saves operators and laboratories both time and resources when compared to costly analytical instrumentation that can take over an hour to achieve results. This enables plant operators to take faster corrective action when atrazine levels spike due to storm water runoff.